Nebraska man convicted in O.C. slaying

SANTA ANA – A Nebraska man was convicted Tuesday of murdering a man who is believed to have gotten into a fight with his daughter.

A jury found Cesar Gerardo Marta, 41, guilty of second-degree murder for his role in the stabbing death of Cesar "Danny" Gutierrez Hernandez, 27, in 2010, according to an Orange County District Attorney's Office statement.

Hernandez and his brother were giving a friend a ride home around 10 p.m. May 26, 2010 when three men walked up to their car and asked if one of them was Danny.

Police say Hernandez confirmed he was "Danny," at which point one of the men, who authorities later identified as Marta, asked Hernandez if he remembered his daughter, indicating that "I am her father and this is for her."

Marta punched Hernandez, knocking him to the ground, authorities said, while an accomplice brandished a knife and held Hernandez's brother and a friend at bay. The unknown accomplice then stabbed Hernandez multiple times while Marta punched and kicked him, authorities said.

Marta and the other man were gone by the time police arrived. Investigators later learned that he had been visiting family in California when the fatal confrontation took place, and tied him to Hernandez's death. He was extradited from Iowa to Orange County in 2011.

Prosecutors say Marta had attacked Hernandez as retribution for an alleged physical altercation between Hernandez and Marta's daughter that occurred a month prior to the confrontation between the two men.

Marta faces a maximum sentence of 30 years to life in state prison at his Aug. 9 sentencing, according to the District Attorney's office.